Context and Intent can nullify hypocrisy

Andrew Rosenthal has been editor of the editorial page of the NYTimes for several years. He has worked for the NYTimes since the 1980s. His father worked for the NYTimes. He knows a few things about newspapers and knows a few things about editorials.

He recently wrote a blog piece (which I don't think was in the paper edition of the NYTimes) admitting that then Senator and later candidate Obama harshly criticized former President Bush for the latter's signing statements and executive orders but now President Obama does the same thing. He has an interesting explanation for why this isn't hypocrisy.

Here it is,

"..I was appalled, and so was the Times editorial board (and so, in fact was Senator Barack Obama) when a Boston Globe reporter, Charlie Savage, documented Mr. Bush’s use of presidential signing statements and executive orders. But I am not appalled by the way Mr. Obama is relying on those instruments – as detailed in today’s Times by that same enterprising reporter, who now works for us. Context and intent make all the difference. ...."  

as Rosenthal explains later,

"..Unlike the Bush/Cheney team, Mr. Obama did not take office with the explicit goal of creating new powers for the presidency."

Really. Did the Bush/Chaney team have the explicit goal of creating new powers for the presidency? Mr. Rosenthal gives no evidence of this and I think I know why. No such evidence exists. Bush presumably didn't think he would have to issue signing statements at all. Obama presumably thought likewise. This is because many people simply do not have experience looking at actual statutory language, realizing how awful it is and having to try to find some way to work around that language. Given Rosenthal's experience, he not only should know this, he almost certainly does. Btw, I'm not accusing Rosenthal of hypocrisy here since he is simply carrying out an objective of defending the politician he likes while criticizing the one he doesn't like.

    Blog Post by Mr Rosenthal is here. The caricature used as an image is on Mr. Rosenthal's website.

Dr. Peggy Drexler and 'parenthood'

Dr. Drexler wrote something in the Huffington Post recently. She is against the automatic 'role assignment' of parents. Here is a quote,

"...To parent: It's a verb that barely existed a quarter of a century ago. By now, however, it is more useful than the verbs "to father" and "to mother," which were always of limited utility. "To father" refers to nothing more than the biological function of making a baby; it is the provenance of paternity suits...."


But here is Dr. Drexler at her own website, 


"...I am a long-married mother of a son and daughter.".

ooops.

Either she is a hypocrite or just tardy about updating her website to reflect her own research.

Post on the Huffington Post is here.
Dr. Drexler's website is here.